Brussels sprout gratin with sherry, nutmeg and cheese This dish can be made up and baked straight away or assembled the night before then cooked when required. If making in advance, it will need 10 to 15 minutes’ extra cooking time and the top may need covering if it starts…
Christmas is the time of year to bring the outside in. Fragrant pine trees are decorated with twinkling fairy lights and placed in the corner of sitting rooms and the halls are decked with boughs of holly. If you want to achieve a cosy, country Christmas interior this year, opt…
If the history books are to be believed, we have Henry VIII to ‘thank’ for first adding turkey to the table, but as far as I’m concerned he would have done better to leave it in the Americas where it belonged. He may well have been the first monarch to…
Q: At about this time every year I buy poinsettias to give as Christmas presents. Do they come in colours other than red or white and is it worth trying to keep them going from year to year? What is the best way to keep a poinsettia flowering? (Read The…
Everybody knows and loves the robin, but despite being our most familiar bird it retains a degree of mystery. Most robins hatched in Britain never move far from their birthplace, but we know that a few fly south in the autumn. One unfortunate bird, ringed in Montgomeryshire, was shot more…
If you would like to use an English brandy instead I highly recommend the Somerset Cider Brandy Company, which also makes super cider under the Burrow Hill label. My other cider picks include Worleys (Somerset), Butford Organics (Hereford) and Cranborne Chase (Dorset). Much like a classic tea bread, this cake…
Recipe for pigeon and cranberry terrine with cointreau and hazelnuts Ingredients 80g dried cranberries 50ml Cointreau 4 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp butter 300g shallots, peeled and finely sliced 8 pigeon breasts, skin off and cut into 1cm-thick strips 80g hazelnuts, roughly chopped 60g fresh white breadcrumbs 15g parsley, finely…
As the fridge and cupboards fill with yuletide fare ensure your cellar is ready for the Christmas celebrations.
Six of the best ports chosen by Jonathan Ray Croft Pink Port (£12.75 per 50cl) The Whisky Exchange No, don’t laugh: pink port is light, fresh, vibrant and gloriously tasty served chilled. Taylor’s Chip Dry White Port (£14.50 per 75cl) Waitrose The original white port, sublime when served with tonic,…
At a time when the main food source was derived from anything that swam, ran or flew, the art of carving and how to carve meat was elevated to become part of the code of chivalry, with a language as complicated as that of hawking. Every species of fur, fish…
